Friday, August 23, 2013

The directive which was given by the secretary to the government of
the federation, Sen Anyim Pius Anyim, during a meeting between the
federal government and the vice-chancellors of the 61 public
universities, stated that "Government, hereby, urges every staff of the
nation's universities to return to work as all issues are being
resolved."
He said with particular reference to the contentious
issue of earned allowances, every staff of the universities that is so
entitled should verify his claim with the university council and
accordingly get paid as "from the foregoing, it is obvious that
government has demonstrated sufficient commitment to the implementation
of the 2009 FG/ASUU agreement.
"After series of discussions,
government has now provided N30 billion to support the university
councils in settling the earned allowances. The amount will be disbursed
to the various university councils which are in the position to know
who is entitled to how much after verification."
He revealed that
"Traditionally, universities pay this to deserving staff but because of
the amount which ASUU now claims as arrears, government has decided to
assist the university councils to pay" as government did not receive any
computation of amount involved until February, 2013.
"By this
computation, ASUU is claiming N92 billion as arrears for three year's
payment based on percentage rage of between 15 and 20 per cent of
personnel cost."
While there was consensus that revitalising the
tertiary institutions is of critical importance to the nation, Anyim
noted that "when put together, the amount of funds from the budgetary
and non-budgetary sources that goes into the sector is quite huge but
without corresponding impact.
While acknowledging the
contributions of the Non-Academic Staff Union, NASU, Senior Association
of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, National Association of Nigerian
Students, NANS, and other stakeholders, Anyim reiterated the
government's resolve 'to bringing the students back to school and
appreciated the patience of parents and students as government is making
every effort to revitalise the university system."
It would be
recalled that on July 2, 2013, ASUU declared what it called "total and
indefinite strike" over issues it says has remained unresolved
pertaining to an agreement it reached with government in 2009.READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/44850.html